There are tantrums. There are crying jags. There is stress and anxiety and the general pressure of parenting.

There are moments of just sheer exhaustion.

There are days where we have fun playing and learning. And then there are days like today where I’m standing in Woolworth’s, having made all of my supermarket selections and am headed towards the check out when The Little Moo suddenly bolts out of her stroller and runs down an aisle. I am then forced to abandon said stroller and my filled grocery basket in the middle of the meat department to keep up…

Like this:

I’ll toss the tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, a pinch or two of brown sugar and some balsamic vinegar. Spread them evenly on a roasting pan and place in the oven. Check occasionally, turning them over, gently, so not to burst them. I might sprinkle dried herbs at the beginning of this process, or add basil leaves at the end when I’m ready to store them in a jar and refrigerate. I add a bit more olive oil, salt and pepper when I store them in a tightly sealed mason jar.

Roasted tomatoes and garlic make a great addition to a salad, or as an appetizer with fresh mozzarella. I’ve used it as a spread on toasted french bread. I once impressed a friend when I took a jar out of the fridge and tossed it in a pan of fried (diced) bacon. I tossed in cooked pasta and sprinkled on some parmesan…. she thinks I’m a gourmet cook!

Like this:

Mom wore a coral colored cardigan with big buttons, pockets and 3/4 length sleeves (or maybe she pushed up her sleeves). It was a thick knit with a collar that closed up around the neck. It was the sixties, I would have been 5 or 6. I thought the color was pretty against her skin.

Her lip stick wasn’t a sassy red, but more like that same coral color. When she’d go out, my sister Robin and I would ask her to kiss us so she could leave a lip print on our cheeks.